14 January - 31 January 2001

13 JANUARY 2001

Dodgy Passports and Dodgy Agents

Aston Villa will complete the signing of Juan Pablo Angel from River Plate later
this week. The move originally broke down when FIFA stated that the transfer
did not comply with regulations because of a problem with Angel's agent.

Meanwhile it finally looks like Edu will join Arsenal from Corinthians next week
having been given a genuine Portuguese passport. The midfielder will cost
the gunners £6 million.

Emerson Gives Roma A Boost

As if an eight point lead wasn't enough, Brazilian midfielder Emerson is fit
and ready to make his Serie A debut having recovered from a knee injury
suffered shortly after his move from Leverkusen.

Kaladze - Milan Have Rights

Dynamo Kyiv defender Kakha Kaladze has denied reports linking him with a
move to German champions Bayern Munich - "I want to remind you that AC
Milan has exclusive rights to talk to me first. Certainly, I would be very happy
to join my friend Andri Shevchenko. I don't want to make guesses - it will be
clear by the end of January where my career will continue."

Milan have also signed a pre contract with Red Star Belgrade striker Drulic.
Thanks to Miona for this news. mivana@EUnet.yu

Taxmen Carry Out Maradona Threat

Back in 1991 shortly after Maradona left Italy he was told if he returned he
would have to pay millions in owed taxes. Almost 10 years later after
Maradona stepped off a plane in Rome, finance police hit him with a bill for
£16.4 million. Maradona claims his Napoli contract stated that all tax must
be paid by the club.

Palermo Set For Spain

Not to Real Madrid or Barca but recently promoted Villarreal! Villarreal expect
to close the deal early next week.


12 JANUARY 2001

Transfer System - More Confusion

Last month a report claimed that the EU had agreed to a concession with UEFA
& FIFA allowing the Bosman ruling to be waived for players under 23 years of
age. Today however Labour Euro MP Glyn Ford said that according to Anna
Diamantopoulou of the European Commission "Free movement applies to all
EU citizens of minimum age, including those involved in sport.". Mr Ford said
"Whatever the argument football makes there cannot be a distinction between
younger and older players.".

Transfer Rumours

Steve Lomas has turned down moves to Man City and Everton and Paolo
Di Canio says he has no intention of leaving West Ham for Lazio. Meanwhile
West Ham face competition from Lazio for the signature of Ranger's defensive
liability Lorenzo Amoruso. Dan Petrescu is close to a move from Bradford to
Southampton.


11 JANUARY 2001

Batistuta Back In Two Weeks

Batistuta has denied that he needs surgery to cure tendonitis :
"I'm feeling much better and for now there's no risk of an operation. I'm
continuing with the treatment that the Roma doctors have prescribed for me."

Earlier in the week it was thought the striker would be out for four months.


France Round-up by Paul Bailey

LNF Begins Hearings

The French National League began it's court process tuesday evening when
a pair of Saint-Etienne players - Ukrainian Maxim Levytsky and Brazilian Alex - 
were summoned to appear before a judiciary panel. The LNF is examining all
78 passports issued to non-native EU players in D1 and D2, with the main
focus falling upon the cases of Levytsky and Alex, both of whom are
suspended from playing in any league until the matter is resolved.

Levytsky was taken into police custody wednesday and is currently being
detained, while Alex is still in Brazil. Saint-Etienne attorney André Soulier
declared that, "We tried to make him (Alex) come. Letters, faxes, the
telephone. It seems that he had to sort out personal problems [in Brazil].
Will he arrive next Tuesday? I cannot answer this question at this moment.
What is certain is that today a player is attached more to his agent than to
his club."

French sports minister Marie-George Buffet made a statement on radio
station France inter calling for "swift and strong" action, adding, "We need
sanctions to be imposed and they must be strong ones ... It is in the
interests of soccer that this matter is resolved ... The use of fake
passports is unexcusable".

Jean-Pierre Camus, the disciplinary committee president, chose to reconvene
the court proceedings on 16 january in the expectation that Alex would be
present to testify. However, after wednesday's session he told reporters,
"My personal opinion, after hearing the the initial evidence, is that Levytsky
is more a victim than the author of the problem". Good news for the
Ukrainian, if only for the moment.

More Passports Confiscated

Saint-Etienne must now face the possibility that not only are Alex and
Levytsky involved in the LNF's passport investigations, but Brazilian Aloisio
is also under suspicion, as he holds what may be a fake Portugese passport.

More shocking news on the matter is that yet another club was dragged into
the investigations when Monégasque police reported that there appear to be
anomolies in the Italian passport held by AS Monaco's Chilean defender Pablo
Contreras. An additional three players from last year's French Champions
were mentioned to be under investigation, but no other names have been
released as of yet.

New World Record

Hossam Hassan of Egypt became the most capped football player on tuesday
when he made his 151st appearance for Egypt, in a friendly against Zambia in 
Cairo. The list of the current top 10 is:

Caps	Name			Country		Career Span 

151	Hossam Hassan		Egypt		1985-continues 
150	Lothar Matthaeus		Germany	1980-2000 
149	Claudio Suarez		Mexico		1992-continues 
143	Thomas Ravelli		Sweden		1981-1997 
140	Majed Abdullah		Saudi Arabia	1978-1994 
140	Mohamed Al-Deayea	Saudi Arabia	1990-continues 
135	Cobi Jones		United States	1992-continues 
128	Marcelo Balboa		United States	1988-continues 
127	Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi	Saudi Arabia	1992-continues 
127	Peter Schmeichel		Denmark	1987-continues

G-14 to Grow?

The G-14, set up last year in order present a unified front in their dealings 
with UEFA and FIFA, may soon be changing their name to the G-16.  The two
new clubs who look set to join the group are Belgian side RSC Anderlecht and
Italian giants AS Roma, with the possibility of the expanded group opening a
new office in Brussels.

The list of clubs that are currently involved in the G-14 :
Real Madrid and Barcelona (Spain), Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund
(Germany), Ajax and PSV Eindhoven (Holland), Porto (Portugal), Marseille
and Paris Saint-Germain (France), Liverpool and Manchester United (England),
Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan (Italy).

Paul


10 JANUARY 2001

Udinese Want Carbone

Udinese are looking to sign Benito Carbone from Bradford. Carbone was put
on the transfer list along with Dan Petrescu and Stan Collymore by coach
Jim Jeffries. Carbone's arrival may speed up the departure of Stefano Fiore
who signed a contract to join Lazio next season. The Roman club are pushing
for his release.

Bertolotti Forced To Retire

Francesco Bertolotti, the victim of a heinous attack by Como's Massimiliano
Ferrigno during a Serie C league match in Italy, has been forced to retire
having recovered from a coma.


Brazilian Championship Final by Tomaz Alvez

After all, the second leg of the Brazilian Championship final between
Vasco and São Caetano will be replayed. The new match has been scheduled
for January 18th. The decisive game will be played at the Maracanã stadium,
probably with open gates.

Once again, the directors of Brazilian football threw the rulebook to the
garbage, opting for a more political decision. Vasco realised that it was
impossible to keep the title, so Eurico Miranda started to make pressure
for a replay of the final. São Caetano agreed to that, in exchange of an
assurance of their participation in the first division of next year's
Brazilian Championship.

The rules of the João Havelange Cup clearly stated that if a match was
interrupted, the team responsible for the interruption should be considered
losers. In order to 'dribble' that, the 'Clube dos 13' considered that Vasco
wasn't responsible for the São Januário disaster (!!!!). Even worse : they
say that there was no disaster at all, since nobody got killed!!!!!! As if
210 injured fans wasn't enough to configure a disaster.

Tuesday, the Superior Tribunal of Sportive Justice confirmed the decision
(what was just a formality), and São Caetano accepted it, but they are
still trying to change the date of the new match.

There are still some problems to the realisation of the replay. First,
there is the fact that the São Caetano players are on vacation. Vasco was
smarter, and already recalled all their players, what gives them an edge.
Another big problem is that São Caetano has already sold some of its
players, and will have to do special arrangements for them to play. Another
benefit for Vasco is that Romário, who left the pitch injured on the first
match, will probably be able to play in this game.

Finally, the São Paulo Football Players Union is threatening to go to justice
to avoid the match being replayed. That's because it would prevent the
São Caetano players to have one month of vacations, which is guaranteed
in law (the Rio de Janeiro Union made the same threat, but they already
backed off).

Well, that's it. Once again, the Brazilian football fans are mocked by
the men in suits. When is it going to end???

Tomaz R. Alves


France Round-up by Paul Bailey

Coupe de la Ligue Leaves D1 Sides Out in the Cold

The weekend action in France revolved around the French League Cup and
saw some interesting matches unfold to determine the quarterfinalists of this
season's competition. The D1 has 9 representatives, the more interesting
results including Monaco's 2-0 win over last year's winners Guegnon,
Saint-Etienne's struggle against D2 side Ajaccio (2-1, all three goals coming
in extra time), and Lyon's 1-2 win away to Sedan.

The five D2 clubs that went through all did so against D1 opposition as Niort
and Wasquehal won against relegation candidates Toulouse and Metz,
Châteauroux won 2-4 after extra time against Strasbourg, Le Havre caused an
upset with their 4-1 win over Marseille, and another stir was created when
Nancy dumped PSG out with a 3-1 scoreline. And finally, the National League
is still involved through Valence - who beat D2 side Cannes 1-2 - and Amiens,
who created arguably the biggest upset when they traveled to play D1 side
Guingamp and were victorious, 1-3.

Les Verts On Third Coach

First Robert Nouzaret was fired, moving to Toulouse, to be replaced by John
Toshack. And then the Welshman leaves, to be replaced by - ? - an undecided
nominee. Top candidate for the job seems to be Saint-Etienne player Jean-Guy
Walleme, to be aided by Rudi Garcia in his duties. One thing that will be
easier for the next coach will be the fact that keeper Maxym Levytsky has
transferred to Spartak Moscow - lessening the pressure of the LNF's passport
investigations.

Paul


9 JANUARY 2001

Sacchi Is Back

Arrigo Sacchi will replace Alberto Malesani as coach of Parma. Sacchi first
made his name at Parma where he developed his infamous 4-4-2 pressing
system before coaching Milan to unprecedented levels of success. Sacchi
then lost the plot when coaching Italy and Atletico Madrid respectively.

Eriksson Quits

Sven Groan Eriksson has quit as coach of Lazio following a meeting with
players earlier today. Following talks with Lazio President Sergio Cyanotic
on Monday, Lazio were adamant that Eriksson would not be fired, so he quit.
Eriksson will now take over as England coach in time for next month's friendly
against Spain. Dino Zoff will take over as Lazio coach.

Malesani Fired

Parma's eccentric coach Alberto Malesani has been fired. Parma have taken
one point from their last four games. 


7 JANUARY 2001

Serie A Transfers

Karel Poborsky has joined Lazio from Benfica. Napoli have signed Edmundo on
loan until the end of the season. Inter have denied they have any interest in
Romario. President Massimo Moratti wanted to sign the Brazilian striker but
coach Marco Tardelli was dead against the idea. Lazio are pushing for Udinese
to release Fiore and Giannichedda immediately. Lazio signed the pair for a
combined fee of £30 million but they were not expected to join until the
2001-2002 season. Carini (GK) and Athirson (DF) have arrived at Juve.
Both have a reasonable chance of playing some games this season espeically
Carini given Van der Sar's form.


4 JANUARY 2001

Tight Arse

"Why should be we spend £10 million on someone who can leave at the end of
the season? We need new player and the money is there but not yet.".

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood. He bizarrely added "Arsene Wenger will not
sign a new contract as he can't commit himself to a game that could be
unmanageable.". 

Monaco Want Chelsea Pair

French champions Monaco are interested in Chelsea's hospital pass merchant
Frank 'I can't head the ball' Lebouef and fellow defensive liability Christian
"I can't mark a desk" Panucci.

FA Cup Final In Wales

Cardiff's Millennium Stadium will be home to the FA Cup final for the next
three years while Wembley stadium is re-developed. The Millennium stadium
holds 72,500 and have a retractable roof.


3 JANUARY 2001

Third Time Lucky?

John Toshack has quit St Etienne to coach Real Sociedad for the second time.
He was previously in charge between 1985-1989 and 1991-1994.

Another Award For Figo

European Footballer of the year Luis Figo has also won the Portuguese player
of the year award. Fiorentina playmaker Rui Costa finished second with Parma
winger Sergio Conceicao third.

Maradona Back In Naples!
 
Diego Maradona has accepted a 'managerial position' with former club Napoli.

Transfers

Emerson (DF, Portuguesa) to Lyon
Tello (MF, Universidad) to Sporting Lisbon- £4.6


1 JANUARY 2001

France Round-up by Paul Bailey

Joyeaux Joël

Metz have become the sixth club to sack their headcoach this season, when
on 27 december they parted ways with Joël Muller. Muller played for the
Lorraine side from 1971-1978 before eventually taking over coaching duties
from Belgian Henri Depireux in 1989 - and is now the second longest serving
coach of the French D1. His replacement is Albert Cartier, who was appointed
Muller's #2 in 1995.

LNF Decision No. 1

Friday saw the LNF's disciplinary commission reach a decision on one of the
three important affairs being discussed during the winter break. The action
in question occured during the PSG - Troyes match of 21 december, when
Frédéric Adam was struck in the throat by an orange thrown from the stands.
The commission decided on a fine of 100,000 francs (~ £7,200), concluding
that it was impossible to have a guard standing behind every spectator,
adding: "we couldn't prohibit this orange, it's not a weapon."

Chilavert Mixing Business and Pleasure?

RC Strasbourg have allowed keeper Jose Luis Chilavert to participate in an
international gala to be held in Japan on 3 january, but rumors indicate that
the club might have other motives in mind, such as finding a club interested
in purchasing Chilavert. If no offers arrive from Japan, Cerro Porteno have
expressed interest in the player that has been a flop since his arrival in
France.

Paul